1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooking apparatus such as a microwave oven, and particularly to a cooking apparatus that allows cooking to be performed in a manner fit for the material or menu to be cooked in accordance with selections made on an operation panel.
2. Description of the Background Art
How a conventional cooking apparatus such as a microwave oven is operated is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. H9-17156. The cooking apparatus disclosed therein has an operation panel 108 as shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, which are a front view and a sectional side view, respectively, thereof. As shown in these figures, on the operation panel 108 are arranged a start key 129 for starting cooking, a liquid crystal display 118 for displaying the conditions and progress of cooking, and a rotary encoder 111. Below the liquid crystal display 118 are arranged switch keys 128 that are individually operated to switch between manual and automatic cooking, to display recipes and a rough (high-level) grouping of cooking methods, and to perform other functions. Moreover, the operation panel 108 incorporates a rechargeable battery (not shown) and has a charge lamp 131 for indicating the remaining battery capacity so that the cooking apparatus proper can be operated by remote control even when the operation panel 108 is detached therefrom.
On a screen displayed on the liquid crystal display 118 to show characterbased data, a desired item can be highlighted by rotating the rotary encoder 111 and then selected by pressing a set button 132. By repeating such selection, it is possible to switch from one screen to another to show various contents such as cooking guides and middle- and low-level groupings of cooking methods, and thereby select a suitable cooking cycle. An already selected item can be canceled by pressing a reset button 133.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications Nos. H10-47683, H10-47684, H10-47685, and H10-47686 disclose cooking apparatuses having an operation panel as shown in FIG. 21. On this operation panel 208 are arranged a start key 229 for starting cooking, a liquid crystal display 226 for displaying the conditions and progress of cooking, and switch keys 228 that are individually operated to display a high-level grouping of commonly used cooking methods on the liquid crystal display 226.
By the side of the liquid crystal display 226 are arranged a plurality of selection keys 227 so that, on a screen displayed on the liquid crystal display 226 to show character-based data, a desired item can be selected by pressing the corresponding one of the selection keys 227. By repeating such selection, it is possible to switch from one screen to another to show various contents such as cooking guides and middle- and low-level groupings of cooking methods. Below the liquid crystal display 226 are arranged a cancellation key 219 for canceling an already selected item, and arrow keys 224 for switching to the previous and next screens, respectively.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. S59-183220 discloses a cooking apparatus whose operation and display units incorporate a liquid crystal display device having transparent touch electrodes so that, when a portion of the screen displayed on the liquid crystal display is operated to select a desired operation, the selected operation is indicated by changing the state of that portion of the screen.
However, with the conventional cooking apparatuses described earlier, to reach a target screen showing a specific cooking menu or a specific cooking guide, it is necessary to display one screen after another on the liquid crystal display by making selections in due order, i.e. from a high-level grouping to a middle-level grouping and then to a low-level grouping, by operating the encoder 111 (see FIG. 19) or the selection key 227 (see FIG. 21). Performing similar operations one after another makes reaching a target screen troublesome and time-consuming, and thus spoils user-friendliness.
On the other hand, in the cooking apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. S59-183220, it is possible to indicate a selected operation by changing the state of the corresponding portion of the screen displayed on the liquid crystal display, but it is difficult to secure on the liquid crystal display a sufficiently large area on which to display a screen that allows selection from a sufficiently large number of cooking menus and cooking guides.